We don't have anywhere close to the amount of birds as are out west. My buddy in CA has hundreds and hundreds in his yard year round. I'm luck if I have two! From a numbers standpoint I don't think a dove season is warranted. You can shoot pigeons though!

They are a migratory game bird. That has a healthy population. They shoot them down south. The same birds we have here fly there and get shot.

"Thirty-nine of the lower 48 states have mourning dove hunting seasons, and federal regulations allow states in the eastern U.S. to select seasons up to 70 days in length, between September 1 and January 15, with a daily bag limit of 15 doves." NY dept of Environment Conservation website

We don’t really have they number of doves that most states with a season do. In addition, we expect that there would be a lot of resistance from non-hunters to have a dove season. Wisconsin tried to start a dove season recently and ended up with a court order to discontinue because of resistance from folks. We haven’t had enough input and request from hunters to go through this.

If you want it. Start petitioning the state. IMO, it will be hard to get passed the lack of bird density we face vs. other states with seasons, even if public support it there. But, you have the opportunity to try.

pigeons are in great supply..Farmers love for you to rid them of Crows, pidgeon's, grackles, starlings..non-game birds..I have eaton Crow..Crowbusters.com.recipies tactics etc..i can see eating pigeon's too hell they eat the same foods..you see morning doves feeding along the road don't you ? think of it as Squab !!! not bad sounding now is it???--pass the BBQ Sauce and cold beer..

birdy wrote:They are a migratory game bird. That has a healthy population. They shoot them down south. The same birds we have here fly there and get shot.

"Thirty-nine of the lower 48 states have mourning dove hunting seasons, and federal regulations allow states in the eastern U.S. to select seasons up to 70 days in length, between September 1 and January 15, with a daily bag limit of 15 doves." NY dept of Environment Conservation website

That's true but if you start shooting our resident breeding population the numbers here would certainly decline much faster than more southern states. Since Maine is in the northern tier of their breeding range they would not be quickly replaced. Sure some of ours get shot down south but you'd be targeting mainly breeders here and few migrants given our northern latitude.

If you want to try for a season start a petition. Probably a long shot but you won't know if you don't try.

My bro-in-law lives and TX where they have a huge Dove population, so big that they are basically considered a pest. He said that annual harvest for dove hunters is between 700,000-800,000 birds...which is sustainable! I'd be surprised if ME has half that many doves total...

So fun and so tasty, some of my best hunting memories are from dove hunting with my uncles dog Remy in VA when I was young, the flocks could get huge. A lot of good points on why we don't have the season, I don't think the hunting would be all that great anyway.

We don't need just another target because there are a few around... the only gun-able population I've ever seen in Maine is under the wife's bird feeder in the winter.

Why not a season here?? Because we just don't need to kill every thing that flies, walks or shits in the woods!

When I was a kid, there were No Turkeys and resident geese were unheard of in New England. Now there are plenty of birds.Also now there are Salmon and Lake trout in Lake Champlain which was thought t be an impossibility 50 years ago. The fishing is awesome

I say NO to dove hunting in Maine. Connecticut has way more doves and doesn't have a season either!! They have resisted it for at least 30 years based on the fact that they didn't want to give the anti's something to rally around.

If this became a proposal, it'd have less of a chance to pass than Sunday Hunting!!

When you get to be my age, it's always a race to see if you'll piss inside or outside of your waders!!

I have lived in the south for my entire life and dove hunting is huge. Labor day weekend (normal opening or close to opening) brings friends and families together for picnics, BBQ's and the change to harvest the best tasting game bird I've eaten. I did move to ohio in 1990 and there was no season there and several groups across the state got enough petitions signed to have it put on the ballot in the next state election. There were cries from the anti hunting groups galore. I worked our local poll and heard rants like "these hunters will be shooting them your backyards by your bird feeders, they will just shoot them and just leave them as they are too small, they are a songbird, population too low,etc.,etc. The bill passed resoundingly but what was missing was the knowledge of how to attract doves in shootable numbers legal. We started getting farmers with some set aside ground to plant paradobic sunflowers and the results were just like in the south. You won't hardly see large numbers until you provide a enticing food source. Doves love millet, milo, wheat and sunflowers----small grain seeds are best and they like very clean ground under the plants or where you sow your seed. Corn is not a FAVORED food source but doves will eat it and more so if it has been cut for silage as the kernals get cracked during the harvesting process.

Why not try to get a season in and open another hunting opportunity. Women ,once introduced to it, tend to enjoy. It is easy hunting and you don't have to be real still and silent. Most kids in the south cut there hunting teeth at a dove shoot first retreiving----my first was retrieving for my grandfather. I remember being so excited several weeks before the shoot it was crazy----worse than waiting for Christmas!!!!

If you guys get a season voted in I will be more than will to tell you how to prepare a sunflower field---how to prepare ground, how to plant, what to spray withand amounts and how to manage the cutting for optimum results. If invited I might even come up and let you guys show me how to hit some!!!

Last note is safety is very important and no dove should be attempted if it is flying low---only shoot birds that are aganist the sky. On a dove field be prepared to get "sprinkled" by pellets that rain down from across the field but these will not hurt as the velocity is too slow---ALWAYS WEAR GLASSES WHEN SHOOTING ANYTHING!!!!

Would love to see you folks get a season and will gladly help you with planting a field.

Sorry but forgot to mention that in Ohio the first vote had a large group of antis campaign aganist the season but were soundly defeated. They petitioned a couple years later to get it back on the ballot and they were so soundly defeated that they said they would not try to get the season taken off again. Maine , I think, is a much more outdoor-hunting friendly state and I bet you would have a decent shot at it. I also bet you have a higher population of doves than it may appear.

New England States are not noted for dove seasons-simply put -classified as song birds.I would love to have a season. but Maine is not a big Agricultural state buy that I mean there is not vast amounts of fields of grains, corn or sunflowers.mostly Dairy farms.The Dove population is another matter..I will have the pleasure this year in Florida and Louisiana,.while duck hunting..and then there is the tree hugger anti --who if ever dined on them would be out there themselves, grilling..My vote is Yes !! Great practice is Starlings -farmers hate them -and they are NOT A SONG BIRD !!--back home Farmers would buy the shells to ride these flying pests from the grainery and milk house..and don't forget the Pidgeon..plump fast flyers great sport and really good too on the farm..Crow is all Dark meat --Chow down my Wing shooting Brothers..see Crowbusters.com

This is one of the Many reasons that I elected to stay in North Carolina and not return to Maine after my enlistment in the Marine Corps. Hunting licences are so expensive and are only good for that season which seems to only last about a month or two then YOU'RE DONE. You can only take 1 deer , 2 if you are lucky enough to get an extra permit { which you pay for } moose permits are a running joke that the state has been pulling on Maine hunters for years, and the limits on most game are tiny. By the time that you do actually shoot something you could of bought 100 pounds of t bone steak for the same price as your licences , fees, permits, gas, ammo, and time wasted. Down south you buy your licence and it does not expire until a year later on that same date. The limits for deer are 6 PER HUNTER per season { 2 bucks 4 does } and you can bait as well for deer. Duck season and dove season are huge down here, oh and not to mention if you are a avid hunter like me and hunt more than one type of critter, you can start hunting in Sep and it goes till Mar....soo what does all this mean?? Well I lived in Maine for 13 years of my life and I find it strange that for a state that advertises itself as a " Hunters paradise" seem to do everything in their power to limit what you can do and how long you can do it, all the while raising the price to enjoy all 15 to 20 minutes that they allow you to do it in. So Go ahead and complain the " we dont need a dove season yada yada yada But in the end the only people you are hurting is yourselves and future hunters.

I was stationed in Georgia for 18 years and yes Dove hunting is a tradition there that starts the saturday before labor day. We used to plant over 150 acres on one farm alone just for that weekend and a couple more. We had an adult/child hunt that I as the local hunter safety instructor would hold my final class there the morning of the hunt, big bbq for lunch and then the season opens at noon. as to having one here it wouldn't fly due to the small population in most of the state as we are at the northern end of their territory. down there they are concentrated due to the migration.